Temple University withdrew free tuition from its graduate student assistants as a result of the ongoing Temple University Graduate Students' Association strike.
TUGSA students must pay their spring tuition in full by Mar. 9, or they may incur other severe financial consequences including a $100 late fee and a financial hold on their account, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Tuition remission can be worth up to $20,000 per year.
On average, the base pay of graduate teaching and research assistants at Temple University is $19,500 per year, the Inquirer reported. TUGSA wants to increase their base pay to over $32,000 per year.
Comparatively, doctoral students at the University of Pennsylvania have a minimum stipend of currently $30,547 per year, and this is set to increase to $38,000 per year in the upcoming 2023-2024 school year, PennToday reported in December.
Temple has also cut down on graduate student benefits due to the strike, such as deactivating student health-care accounts, leaving many students without adequate access to health care.
"These are things that other universities with graduate unions have threatened to do while going on strike, but to our knowledge, no one else has actually done that," Grace Bennett-Pierre, a teaching assistant for the Psychology Department, told CBS News.
Temple University cites Pennsylvania law for its reason to withhold tuition reimbursement.
“In accordance with Pennsylvania law, those TUGSA members who have chosen not to work are no longer entitled to their compensation and work-related benefits, which include tuition remission, when they are on strike and not performing work for the university,” Temple University said in a statement in the Inquirer.
Temple undergraduates and local Philadelphia leaders have expressed support for TUGSA’s ongoing strike.
About 1,000 Temple undergraduates participated in a walkout on Wednesday afternoon to show their support for TUGSA.
Temple University first-year Julia Bart has not had her class “Gender and World Societies,” in two weeks due to the strike, according to the Inquirer.
“I think [Temple] should give them what they want. Everyone should be paid fairly,” Temple senior Bradley Carpenter told CBS News.
As the strike is heading into their third week, TUGSA members continue to fight for living wages, better work conditions, and health care for dependents, among other demands.
“We are out here for a very reasonable demand, trying to get a living wage for our people,” TUGSA member Bethany Kosmicki told 6 ABC.
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